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Czech gunmaker Colt CZ sells Vista Outdoor stake after rejected bid

Reuters
Updated ·2-min read
The international Milipol security fair in Villepinte near Paris

PRAGUE (Reuters) -Czech gunmaker Colt CZ Group said on Tuesday it had sold all its shares in U.S. sporting and outdoor products group Vista Outdoor after a rejected bid last year, as it turned focus to its planned acquisition of another group.

Colt CZ also reported on Tuesday revenue rose 1.8% year-on-year in 2023 to 14.86 billion crowns ($638.5 million), helped by a record fourth quarter and the start of a recovery in the U.S. market.

Adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) fell 9.4% to 3.05 billion crowns last year, in line with the company's outlook. The company proposed an unchanged 30 crown per share dividend.

Colt CZ is forecasting revenue to rise up to 19.8% on a standalone basis and by up to 48.1% when factoring the expected contribution of its planned acquisition of Czech small-calibre ammunition maker Sellier & Bellot.

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If the deal completes as expected by mid-2024, revenue should reach a range of 20.0 billion to 22.0 billion crowns and adjusted EBITDA should be in a range of 4.3 billion to 4.7 billion crowns in 2024.

The $820 million deal for Sellier & Bellot has taken focus off a cash-and-stock merger offer to Vista rejected last November.

Investment firm MNC Capital has since made a bigger offer while Vista remains in the process of selling its sporting goods business to privately held Czech defence and civil manufacturing firm Czechoslovak Group (CSG) in a deal preceding any offer.

"Once we saw our bid was topped we decided there was no further logic to hold the stake," Colt CZ Chief Executive Jan Drahota said, adding the last shares were sold this week. "As of today we don't have any more shares."

Colt CZ disclosed in October 2023 it held a 2.4% stake in Vista Outdoor and it and connected reporting persons had a stake exceeding 5%. On March 12, it said the stake had fallen below 5% and that Colt CZ's stake was 1.9%.

Drahota did not comment on the other reporting persons, which included him and Colt CZ shareholder Rene Holecek.

Analysts said the focus on Sellier & Bellot was a better fit as Colt CZ expands in the small-arms ammunition business and seeks more sales in the military and law enforcement segment.

Firearm sales fell 10.4% last year, largely due to lower demand in the key U.S. market.

Shares in Colt CZ ticked 0.2% lower on Tuesday and are up over 10% in the past year.

($1 = 23.2720 Czech crowns)

(Reporting by Jason Hovet; editing by Miral Fahmy and David Evans)